HONG Sangsoo is a Korean director with international presence and one perhaps most loved in the international film festival circuit. One of the most original directors who possess their own language of filmmaking, HONG burst onto the Korean movie scene literally out of nowhere with his feature debut, <The Day a Pig Fell into a Well>(1995), which shook the Korean filmmaking industry. In the following years, graduation film screening sessions at many of Korea’s film sc... expand

HONG Sangsoo is a Korean director with international presence and one perhaps most loved in the international film festival circuit. One of the most original directors who possess their own language of filmmaking, HONG burst onto the Korean movie scene literally out of nowhere with his feature debut, <The Day a Pig Fell into a Well>(1995), which shook the Korean filmmaking industry. In the following years, graduation film screening sessions at many of Korea’s film schools were full of Hong Sang-soo-style films. HONG has made 12 feature films since his debut, and they were all shown in major international film festivals and took numerous awards. <Woman Is the Future of Man>(2004), a Korea-France joint production, and <A Tale of Cinema>(2005) were the movies that put HONG Sangsoo in the competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. In 2010, Hong’s <Ha Ha Ha> took the ‘Un Certain Regard’ grand prize in the Cannes Film Festival, after which there was a special tour of his films in 25 cities in England. HONG’s films have been seen somewhat and almost always strange and foreign, and at times uneasy. Starting with <Like You Know It All>(2009), which he produced and directed on his own, outside the usual production system of the filmmaking industry, however, his films are said to have become softer, warmer, and more fun, while still retaining the depth and breath of his old movies. The most prolific Korean filmmaker in recent times, HONG released two films in 2010, <Hahaha> and <Oki’s Movie>, and introduced <The Day He Arrives> in 2011. He has completed the principal shooting of an English-language film <In Another Country> starring [Isabelle HUPPERT]. As his filmography gets longer, HONG started to employ a direction style that puts greater importance on the spontaneity at the shooting location. <Our Sunhi>(2013) won the Silver Leopard award for Best Director at the International Locarno Film Festival. Featuring Japanese star KASE Ryo, HONG’s next work <Hill of Freedom> debuted at the Venice International Film Festival in 2014. A festival hit, the film picked up the Best Director - Narrative Film Prize from the Wildflower Film Awards. HONG next whose work attracted stars KIM Min-hee and JUNG Jae-young. The film, called <Right Now, Wrong Then>, premiered at the Locarno International Film Festival, where it won the Golden Leopard and the Best Actor prize for JUNG. 2016 welcomed two new HONG films, <Yourself and Yours> with KIM Joo-hyuk and another title with KIM Min-hee and JUNG Jae-young. close

The Korean Film Festival DC returns this month for its 2019 edition, which will unfold from May 10 to July 1. This year’s event will feature 11 recent Korean titles as well as a pair of very special guests, acclaimed actress MOON So-ri and director JANG Joon-hwan. Screenings will take place at the Freer Gallery of Art, Meier Auditorium and the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, DC, as well as t...

The documentary The Remnants (2016) from directors KIM Il-ran and LEE Hyuk-sang, which chronicles the aftermath of the Yongsan Tragedy of 2009, has earned the Grand Prize at this year’s 6th edition of the Wildflower Film Awards Korea, which was held at the Seoul Literature House on the slopes of Namsan mountain on the evening of Friday, April 12. JEON Go-woon’s acclaimed debut Microhabitat (2017) ...

Five Korean films have been invited to screen at the 9th edition of the Beijing International Film Festival, which kicked off on April 13 with the opening film The Composer by Xirzat YAHUP, a co-production between China and Kazakhstan. This year’s Korean selection includes CHOI Kook-hee's Default (2018), Hong Sangsoo's Hotel by the River, JUNG Bum-sik’s GONJIAM: Haunted Asylum (2018), LEE ...

The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) hosted the Korean Film Night during this year’s 70th Cannes Film Festival in order to celebrate the Korean films invited to the festival and to promote exchanges between Korean and international film professionals. The event took place on Monday, May 22nd from 9:30pm onwards and featured around 650 guests. However, this year’s event was not just one of jubilation as...

KoBiz Online Screening for Jecheon International Music & Film Festival 2016 to Open on August 25 Even the boiling hot weather was not quite as hot as the passion of devoted fans to Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (JIMFF). JIMFF has finally closed its 12th edition after successfully weaving great memories of wonderful music with romantic groove of summer, in the setting of Che...

A new memorandum of mutual understanding will be signed by Estonia and South Korea during the Industry Days market event held in conjunction with this year’s Black Nights International Film Festival in Tallinn (POFF). The agreement, which will be the first of its kind between South Korea and a nation from Northern or Eastern Europe, is to be signed by the Director of the Estonian Film Institute, E...

Ticket sales doubled as the summer season finally kicked into high gear with the arrival of the monsoon season and a major new franchise entry which drew almost record crowds but left slim pickings for holdovers. 3.18 million seats were filled, with Hollywood accounting for 88% of business. Spider-Man: Homecoming scored a franchise best opening for the webslinger, doubling the opening score of The...

As two titles fought for supremacy, it was a tight race at the top of the charts in Korea as business ticked up 20% over last week to 2.53 million admissions. It was an equally tight race for market share dominance, with Hollywood films barely nudging out domestic ones 49% to 48%. Though it did so by only a nose, Disney’s blockbuster-in-the-making Beauty and the Beast had a magical sophomore frame...

With the help of Hangul (Korean alphabet) Day on Friday, business saw an uptick over the weekend, with 3.24 million viewers bustling into theaters, many of them looking to catch the latest Hollywood space drama to hit local screens. Locked out of the top two spots, Korean films saw their market share slide to 30%. Following the success of Gravity in 2013 and particularly Interstellar last year, w...